Our management is very interested in the industry 'averages' of emergency and standard/pre-approved changes (Gartner, Hackett, CobIT, etc). They seem to think that by comparing ourselves against others is an indication of success. I've pointed out in the past that this is not a true barometer of success as success is determined by what WE define, not by what others are doing; but it has fallen on deaf ears for the most part.

We log around 10,000 changes each year in our global org. If it matters, our organization is very much a moving target with heaps of project activities, over 200 business customers on every continent on both shared & non-shared infrastructure and applications. We run 5 distinct CAB meetings each week due to the varied locations.

With this said, I'm being driven hard to find industry averages outside anecdotal information. We have already set a baseline target of 8% for our expedited/emergency changes and management seems happy with this target considering we were at 20% 2 years ago. Where I'm struggling now is finding data on standard/pre-approved change types.

We are currently averaging around 30% combined of our overall total which I feel is an awesome target. However with that said, the monthly averages of pre-approved changes seems to be dropping. We have had many projects finish up or cancelled as part of a cost savings initative, and many of the pre-approved templates that we have were project specific. Despite this, management is not happy with the current trend (this is internal and one that is being addressed but wanted to give the full picture to the audience here).

I realize the percentages from around the IT industry are very subjective but if folks wouldn't mind sharing what you have set for your targets I would appreciate it. I realize there will be several 'It Depends' answers and I'm happy with that as it's nearly the same answer I give management. I just need some ideas of best/better practices in relation to the percentages.